Must Read November 4, 1999: Congress Repeals Glass-Steagall

[flpoljunkie]

November 5, 1999
CONGRESS PASSES WIDE-RANGING BILL EASING BANK LAWS

By STEPHEN LABATON

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4— Congress approved landmark legislation today that opens the door for a new era on Wall Street in which commercial banks, securities houses and insurers will find it easier and cheaper to enter one another's businesses.

The measure, considered by many the most important banking legislation in 66 years, was approved in the Senate by a vote of 90 to 8 and in the House tonight by 362 to 57. The bill will now be sent to the president, who is expected to sign it, aides said. It would become one of the most significant achievements this year by the White House and the Republicans leading the 106th Congress.

''Today Congress voted to update the rules that have governed financial services since the Great Depression and replace them with a system for the 21st century,'' Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said. ''This historic legislation will better enable American companies to compete in the new economy.''

The decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provoked dire warnings from a handful of dissenters that the deregulation of Wall Street would someday wreak havoc on the nation's financial system. The original idea behind Glass-Steagall was that separation between bankers and brokers would reduce the potential conflicts of interest that were thought to have contributed to the speculative stock frenzy before the Depression.

more...worth reading in its entirety. Great quotes from Paul Wellstone, Byron Dorgan. Richard Shelby only Republican who voted against repeal of Glass Steagall. He was joined by 7 Democrats. Barbara Boxer of California, Richard H. Bryan of Nevada, Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, Mr. Dorgan and Mr. Wellstone.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/05/business/congress-passes-wide-ranging-bill-easing-bank-laws.html?pagewanted=all

[DCBob]

1. I wonder who were the "handful of dissenters"...

They should be put in charge.

[flpoljunkie]

2. I think they are referring to the senators who voted against the repeal of Glass Steagall

Richard Shelby only Republican who voted against repeal of Glass Steagall. He was joined by 7 Democrats. Barbara Boxer of California, Richard H. Bryan of Nevada, Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, Mr. Dorgan and Mr. Wellstone.

[DCBob]

4. Good group... they should get medals or something.

thanks.

[zbdent]

3. ever notice that, because Clinton signed it, it's his fault ...

but the bank blank checks, signed by Bush43, is all "Nancy/Harry's" fault (when not retroactively blaming Obama for it) ...

at least, according to the "liberal media" ...

[flpoljunkie]

5. Clinton said he was wrong about derivatives. Don't think he has disavowed repeal of Glass Steagall

Time on Phil Gramm's role:



As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee from 1995 through 2000, Gramm was Washington's most prominent and outspoken champion of financial deregulation. He played a leading role in writing and pushing through Congress the 1999 repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial banks from Wall Street. He also inserted a key provision into the 2000 Commodity Futures Modernization Act that exempted over-the-counter derivatives like credit-default swaps from regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Credit-default swaps took down AIG, which has cost the U.S. $150 billion thus far.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350_1877330,00.html

Both were, of course, were signed into law by President Clinton.

[rasputin1952]

7. Gramm works for USB, raking in the cash...

and hoping against hope his stupid crap isn't rescinded...fat chance. The man is a theif and a pig.

[Vinnie From Indy]

8. One of the most corrupt men to ever serve in Congress for sure!

He and his wife are the prototypical lying, thieving Republicans.

[Peace Patriot]

6. The origins of the second Iraq War and the Bush Junta's Financial 9/11 of Sept. '08...

...have been drowned in the corpo-fascist 'news' monopolies' river of forgetfulness, along with so much else. Both these things really need to be understood as a continuum of Demorepublican U.S. policy. And I hate to say this, because I am a lifelong Democrat and loyal Democratic Party voter, supporter and activist, and I DO see the game that is being played by the far rightwing billionaires who are running things to "divide and conquer" the great progressive American majority, and to disempower and demoralize that majority, possibly in preparation for Bush Junta II. The parallel to Germany in the early 1930s--the fracturing of the center-left and its inability to govern--is quite scary and needs to be understood as a danger. But it cannot be denied that Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party leadership prepped the invasion of Iraq for the Bush Junta AND also paved the way for this induced financial disaster.

The majority of people in this country have virtually no representation in Washington DC. The country is now run by multinational corporations, war profiteers and the super-rich, and virtually all of our so-called representatives--all of whom are now (s)elected by 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting, with the 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY code owned and controlled mostly (80%) by ONE far rightwing corporation (ES&S, which just bought out Diebold)--toady to these powermongers and ignore the rest of us. The left--that is, the CENTER--represented by people like Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer and the late Paul Wellstone--always ends up in the minority--in my opinion, as democratic "cosmetics," in other words to FOOL us that we still have a democracy. I have no way of knowing--and neither does anyone else--if Feingold or Boxer or any of those who seem to be true representatives of the people are sincere, collusive or what. It seems to me that they would be louder about the 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting if they are not collusive. But I can't really tell what's in their hearts or what they know. Things are so bad in this new Roman Empire that they may have good reasons for not attacking the 'TRADE SECRET' coders directly.

Privatized, 'TRADE SECRET' code vote counting, with virtually no audit/recount controls, is THE most anti-democratic measure that has ever been taken by the ruling elite in this country to control the rest of us. It is completely outrageous. Yet you hear almost nothing about it, even from the few leaders who seem to have a conscience.

I try to never say such dire things without proposing a remedy. We need to get rid of private, secret, corporate vote counting--a project that is still doable, since power over voting systems still resides at the state/local level, where ordinary people still have potential influence. It will take a big and widespread citizen movement--a REAL "Boston Tea Party"--but it can be done. And until we restore transparent vote counting, we cannot even begin the reforms that are so badly needed in our troubled and almost non-existent democracy. Transparent vote counting is the BOTTOM-LINE of democracy.